Despite FAFSA delays, CT colleges stick to timelines
Several Connecticut colleges, including UConn, Yale and the University of Hartford, are keeping their May 1 deposit deadline despite nationwide delays in processing the updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as FAFSA.
“The deadline is a valuable instrument to assist students with navigating the college selection process in a uniform manner across institutions. It is also a necessary method for institutions to ensure that new student enrollment counts are met,” explained UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz.
The processing delay is the latest result of the FAFSA Simplification Act, which Congress passed in 2021 to make applying for financial aid simpler and more accessible. The act required the U.S. Department of Education to create a new form, which has experienced several glitches since it rolled out in December.
“Make no mistake: the Better FAFSA is transformational,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement. “We are determined to get this right. We must, and we will. Our hope is that these steps we’re announcing today are going to go a long way toward helping colleges and universities make the most of the Better FAFSA.
The department announced Monday it would provide funding for technical assistance and support for underresourced colleges and release tools to help colleges prepare to quickly and accurately process student records and deliver financial aid packages.
Because of the new form, the U.S. Department of Education estimates that 610,000 new students will be eligible for a federal Pell grant in the 2024-2025 award year. An additional 1.5 million students will also be eligible to receive a maximum Pell Grant award of $7,395.
Timeline shuffle
As of Dec. 30, the department estimated more than 3.6 million forms have been successfully submitted. However, processing the forms and sending them to colleges has been delayed again. In previous years, the FAFSA was available in October, processed and sent to universities. Financial aid offers from universities rolled out between February and March so prospective students had time to decide and make their enrollment or housing deposit before May 1. This year, the new FAFSA rolled out in December and schools will not receive financial information until the first half of March.
Even though UConn plans to notify applicants around March 1 if they are admitted, Reitz said that UConn can’t send financial aid offers at the same time. Nevertheless, she added that UConn expects to receive the FAFSA data and send the financial aid offers to admitted students well before the May 1 deadline to accept the enrollment invitation.
CT State Community colleges are assigning financial aid packages and issuing offer notifications to students by the end of April, according to a bright, red banner alert at the top of their website.
Other colleges, such as Sacred Heart University and the University of Hartford are keeping their deadlines, but monitoring the situation closely.
“We are committed to assisting our prospective families in navigating their next steps,” said Julie Savino, executive director of University Financial Assistance at Sacred Heart University.
Processing the delays
This delay compresses the time schools have to process the financial information and offer aid packages to prospective students. Stacey Downing, the director of student financial services at the University of St. Joseph said her office was prioritizing providing students with flexibility, even despite the time crunch.
“We are worried about our students receiving the information that they’re supposed to receive in time. But we are also willing to go the extra mile to be proactive,“she said. “It really does condense the time that we have to do our work, but we are focused on making sure that this is as smooth a transition for (incoming students) as it can be, despite any additional kind of time commitment on our part.”
Even though the university has a housing deposit deadline of May 1, Downing explained the university has rolling admissions and is providing flexibility and one-onone counseling for prospective students to be able to make an informed decision on a case-by-case basis. She added that Connecticut extended its deadline to March 15 and encouraged students to send in their information in a timely manner.
“Financial aid is a critical component in the college process,” she said, “but we want to encourage students not to let this kind of delay them or scare them away in a way from continuing on with their plan to attend college in the fall.”